A Hostfully alternative with accounting in the plan
Hostfully is a solid PMS with published starting prices, task management, an owner portal and a direct booking site on every plan — this isn’t a takedown. The differences are the fees and the add-ons: a platform fee on every plan, booking fees on Growth, and accounting sold separately. VacayOps is the Full Platform at $29/property/month: PMS, field operations, owner statements, trust accounting, phones and CRM, with unlimited users.
Hostfully vs VacayOps, row by row
Every Hostfully cell is from hostfully.com or Hostfully’s help center. Where a Hostfully feature is an add-on or plan-specific, the cell says so.
| Capability | VacayOps | Hostfully |
|---|---|---|
| Published price | $29/property/month, on the pricing page | Growth from $15/property/month + a platform fee; Pro from $25/property/month + a platform fee; Enterprise by custom quote |
| Platform fee | None | A platform fee on every plan (amount not published) |
| Fee on direct bookings | None — card processing billed by your own processor | 0.85% direct booking fee + 1% payment gateway fee on Growth; none on Pro or Enterprise |
| Billing terms | Month to month at the same price | Monthly available, not discounted; yearly recommended |
| Onboarding help | Included — no setup fee | Onboarding Assistance Program “for hire” |
| Users | Unlimited, no per-seat fee | Team roles on every plan; seat count not stated on the pricing page |
| Channel connections | Direct connections to Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, Expedia, Google Vacation Rentals, and Hopper | Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com and 60+ channels |
| Direct-booking website | Built in, no booking fee; AI edits arrive as proposals you approve | Direct booking site on every plan |
| Guest inbox & AI messaging | Unified inbox with InboxAI | |
| Cleaning & maintenance tasks | Checklists, inspections and photos in the field app | Task Management and Service Hub on every plan |
| Form builder & AI form creation | Drag-and-drop builder; AI drafts a form from a description or rebuilds one from a PDF, Word file or photo of the paper form | Task cards can include a checklist and reference photos; no form builder marketed |
| Form answers as automation triggers | A submitted form or a single answer (a “Fail”) starts a workflow — create the maintenance task, notify the manager | Task completion triggers the next task; answer-driven triggers not marketed |
| Smart locks & thermostats | $5/device/month | Smart locks, lights and thermostats through the Devices add-on |
| Owner portal & statements | Owner portal and owner financial reports on every plan; Statements generated from live booking data | |
| Trust accounting | Included (Full Platform), with a monthly three-way reconciliation and sign-off | Hostfully Accounting, an add-on with no published price; A reconciliation you can export for your trust accounting records |
| Matching payouts to bookings | Stripe payouts broken down by booking; bank matches suggested | Airbnb, Vrbo, Stripe and direct-booking deposits matched to reservations and owners |
| Co-owners of one property | Percentage shares — each owner credited and shown their share | A “By co-owner” statement type |
| Owner payouts | Recorded — you send them from your own bank | Owner payouts by ACH from your own bank accounts |
| Business phone system & recorded calls | Lines $7/line/month, calls recorded | Not listed in Hostfully’s product menu |
| Owner sales CRM | Owner pipeline in the CRM | Not listed in Hostfully’s product menu |
Hostfully column from hostfully.com and help.hostfully.com as of 25 October 2026 — sources below. Hostfully prices are “starting at” figures plus a platform fee it does not publish. Hostfully is a trademark of its owner; VacayOps is not affiliated with Hostfully. Spot something out of date? Tell us and we’ll fix it.
Sources — read on the vendor’s own pages, 25 October 2026
- https://www.hostfully.com/pricing/property-management-software/
- https://www.hostfully.com/
- https://www.hostfully.com/pmp-features/task-management/
- https://www.hostfully.com/accounting/
- https://help.hostfully.com/en/articles/15359912-create-owner-statements-at-scale-for-all-owners-in-hostfully-accounting
- https://help.hostfully.com/en/articles/15360136-using-the-co-owner-feature-in-hostfully-accounting
Where VacayOps differs
No platform fee, no direct booking fee
Hostfully’s plans add a platform fee, and its Growth plan adds booking and gateway fees. VacayOps is $29/property/month with two add-ons: smart devices at $5/device/month and phone lines at $7/line/month. Keep 100% of your direct bookings. No booking fee, no revenue share — card processing is billed by your own processor at its rates.
Trust accounting in the plan
Hostfully sells accounting as an add-on. In VacayOps, owner statements, trust accounting and a monthly three-way reconciliation with sign-off are part of the Full Platform, next to a P&L, balance sheet and general ledger.
Phones and an owner CRM, too
Business phone lines with recorded calls, and a CRM with an owner pipeline, run on the same records as your reservations, crews and owner statements — with unlimited users.
A switch you run, with a specialist
The Migration Center reads your exports and checks every booking before you switch. A VacayOps specialist joins a kickoff call and reviews your move before switch-over.
Where Hostfully goes further
Hostfully does several things well, and some go beyond VacayOps today.
- A lower starting price per property — Growth from $15/property/month + a platform fee — if the Growth plan fits.
- Owner payouts by ACH from your own bank accounts in Hostfully Accounting — VacayOps records payouts; you send them from your own bank.
- Airbnb, Vrbo, Stripe and direct-booking deposits matched to reservations and owners — in VacayOps, Airbnb and Booking.com payouts are matched by hand.
- Digital guidebooks (add-on) for guests.
Switching from Hostfully
Switching is built in — a self-guided Migration Center, with a specialist reviewing your move. There’s no Hostfully-specific export guide yet: the general guide takes your reservation export or a spreadsheet, maps its columns, shows what will change before anything is saved, runs both systems side by side and checks every booking against your file.
- Past and upcoming reservations with guest details, channel and the money as your export itemizes it
- Opening balances from your trial balance and owner balances, and old owner statements as files owners see in their portal
- Properties, owners, team and vendors from any spreadsheet
- Airbnb and Booking.com listing content through the channel connection — the same listing, so its reviews stay on it
- Staying behind: guest message history, saved guest cards, rate calendars and review text
Leaving Hostfully: common questions
- Does VacayOps charge a platform fee or a fee on direct bookings?
- No. Keep 100% of your direct bookings. No booking fee, no revenue share — card processing is billed by your own processor at its rates. Hostfully’s pricing page lists a platform fee on every plan, and a 0.85% direct booking fee plus a 1% payment gateway fee on its Growth plan; Pro and Enterprise show neither of those two fees.
- Is accounting an add-on in VacayOps?
- No. Owner statements, trust accounting, accountant access and the 1099 files are part of the Full Platform at $29/property/month. Hostfully lists Accounting under its add-ons, without a published price.
- Is there a Hostfully export guide in the Migration Center?
- Not a Hostfully-specific one yet. The Migration Center’s general guide covers any system’s reservation export or a spreadsheet: drop the file in and it recognises the report, maps its columns and asks you about anything it can’t match — then shows what will change before anything is saved.
- Do I have to sign up for a year?
- No. No contract — month to month, 30 days' notice. No setup fee — onboarding, setup, configuration and training included. Hostfully’s FAQ says its monthly plan is available but not discounted, and recommends the yearly plan.
- Can VacayOps pay my owners by ACH like Hostfully Accounting?
- No. VacayOps records and reconciles the money in your own bank and processor accounts. It never holds or moves funds. You send payouts from your own bank and VacayOps records each one against the owner’s statement. Hostfully’s help center describes sending individual ACH transfers from your own bank accounts in Hostfully Accounting — if you want the software to send payouts, that is a real difference.
- Do we lose our reviews when we leave Hostfully?
- No. Reviews are not migrated — they stay on the channel listing, where guests read them. When you connect your existing Airbnb or Booking.com listing to VacayOps, it is the same listing, so its reviews stay with it.
Trust accounting, field ops and the PMS on one published price.
One login. One bill. Unlimited users. Priced per property. No seat fees, no setup fee, no contract, and no booking fee on your direct site. 14-day free trial — no charge until it ends.